by Rhonda Byrne
Long story short, they fired me after six months.
I felt suicidal. I thought it was over. I was sick of this. I saw God up there laughing at me. I hated like I’d never hated in my life.
A friend gave me The Secret DVD, and I saw for the first time how I had created that whole reality of being harassed in every job I had. It all made so much sense. My thoughts had been: He better not talk to me like that again; Why is it I always end up next to the most difficult person in the company to work with?; I’m not good enough, I hope I don’t get fired; I hope they don’t figure out that I don’t know what I’m doing; I hope they don’t figure out I’m a fake . . . Those are just some of the many negative thoughts that were constantly going through my mind.
I wrote down all those thoughts, I looked at them in all their problematic ugliness, and I wrote their opposite positive thoughts on the other side of the page. At first it felt worse, so I rephrased the positive thoughts as questions and desires: “What would it feel like to know I can work with easygoing, moral people? What would it feel like to make more money than I’ve ever made before? I’d love to work for a publisher one day; that would be cool; I want to be working by [and filled in the date].”
On the very date I’d filled in, I got called for an interview with a publisher and got the job. Although I am no longer at that job, my coworkers were among the most easygoing, understanding, and moral people I’d ever met. I’d had no idea companies like that really existed.
And yes, I was making more money than I’d ever made in the past.
Do I still get fearful thoughts? Yes. Do I entertain them? Not for long. I know I don’t have to. Before, I didn’t know I had a choice. Now, when a negative thought comes up, I focus on its opposite, or if that’s too extreme for me to comprehend at the moment, I change it to a question: “What would it feel like if . . . ?” And that has been a very powerful tool for me.
I’m definitely not perfect at this. I take a few steps backward some days, more often than I like to admit. But I’m now running my own small business and making even more money than I have in the past. My business is growing rapidly, and I’m at a point where I need to start thinking of expanding to the next level.
I hope everyone out there gives this a shot. It really works. And if it doesn’t work for you, ask, “What would it feel like if it DID work for me?” And it will work.
– Annette, Florida, USA
You cannot ever say the law of attraction is not working, because it is working all the time. If you don’t have what you want, you are seeing the effect of your use of the law. If you don’t have what you want, then you are creating not having what you want. You are still creating and the law is still responding to you.
If you understand this, then you can redirect your incredible power to attract what you want.
– The Secret Daily Teachings
WHAT GETS YOU TO BELIEVE?
After I graduated from college, I struggled for many months to get a job. I read The Secret many times and watched the movie, and while it totally changed my way of thinking and gave me a better outlook on life, I was still having trouble getting myself to believe that I already had a job, which was what I wanted most from the Universe.
One day, after a week of applying for countless jobs without getting a response, I had an epiphany. I was trying to remain very optimistic and writing in my journal every day that I was grateful for the job I had, but I truly wasn’t acting or thinking as if I already had a job. I realized that sitting at home, just applying for jobs, and hoping that one would come my way wasn’t getting me anywhere, because I was telling myself through my thoughts and actions that I would always be looking for a job! I figured out that I had to live as though I were already employed.
I began to get up extra early, as I would if I had to go to work in the morning, and instead of searching for jobs every day and writing in my journal about being grateful that a job was coming, I would write how grateful I was that each day at work was successful and that I loved where I was working and the people I worked with. I planned out outfits to wear for the workweek and set up a savings account for my paychecks. I hung out with friends who had jobs after they got home from work and listened to them talk about their jobs without having the feelings of jealousy or inadequacy I used to have, because I knew that I too had a job and, therefore, had no reason to feel any resentment. I also brushed up on my typing and computer skills.
Pretty soon I really did believe and feel as though I had a job and a schedule to adhere to.
About two weeks after I started “pretending” that I had a job, someone told me about a position that would be perfect for me. Even before I went for the interview, I knew I would get the job, and I did! The most amazing part is that things at my new job are going almost exactly as I had written about them in my journal. Now I write about how I want things to go every day, and it always works out.
I am so grateful to The Secret, because if I had never studied its teachings, I would never have known that things have to be believed before they can happen, and I would never be living as I do now.
– Kate, Long Island, New York, USA
Initially, Kate’s actions were not matched to her desires, so she was actually blocking herself from receiving what she wanted. Once she began acting as if she had a job, she actually started to believe it, and once she believed it, she received it.
WHEN THERE’S NOTHING LEFT, YOU HAVE THE SECRET!
After I was laid off from a well-paying job that I absolutely loved, it took me fifteen long, depressing, painstaking months to secure another full-time position, and even that was a dead-end entry-level job that paid half of what I’d been earning and for which I was highly overqualified. I hated it, but I stuck it out for four long years, thinking that “something good” would come of this. Oh, how WRONG was I.
“Be grateful and don’t make waves, man” was my mantra. Although I hated every hour of my workday, I learned to bury my feelings and maintain a minute ray of hope that something else would open up within the company.
Finally, after applying for more than seventy-five positions, being called for about five interviews, and receiving no offers, I was done. One day I just decided that I MUST STOP allowing life to happen TO me and start making it happen FOR me!
Enter The Secret! I’d read The Secret about a year prior to my day of reckoning and finally decided to use it. I created a daily journal, and in the course of my workday, I would record a world in which I enjoyed my job. I used all of the tips from The Secret by absolutely immersing myself in the world I created. I lived that world daily with every one of my senses. I saw my office; I touched the keyboard of my computer; I smelled the lemon Pledge scent emanating from my huge mahogany desk; I engaged in audible conversations with my team (I even gave my team members first and last names, physical traits, and personalities); I tasted the carne asada tacos I ate during my lunch breaks. I attended meetings and gave presentations. I was there, man! I was really THERE!
Then the Universe began to make things happen. I received more interviews. Then second interviews! Then, finally, TWO offers of jobs I knew I wanted and would enjoy, and I accepted one of those jobs!
The Secret: Believe it! Feel it! See it! Touch it! Live it! Expect it!
– Kelly, Indiana, USA
Kelly threw himself into manifesting a life that was the complete opposite of the one he was living. He used all of his senses to visualize every aspect of what he wanted until he truly believed that he was living it. He is proof positive that every single second is an opportunity to change your life.
If your day is not going well, stop and deliberately change your thoughts and feelings. If your day is going swimmingly, keep doing what you are doing.
– The Secret Daily Teachings
How Is Not Your Job
Just like anything else you want to bring into your life, how you will receive the job or career opportunity of your dreams is not something you should be concer
ned about. The Universe will move all people, circumstances, and events to manifest your desire in an orchestration that would be impossible for you to arrange. So forget about how you will receive what you’ve asked for and instead feel as if you already have it.
AT TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD, I GOT MY BOOK PUBLISHED!!!
After watching The Secret, I wrote all of my goals on a piece of paper and posted it above my desk. One of my seven major goals was to have my book of poems published by a major press. For two months after watching The Secret, I did nothing but visualize and evoke the feelings of ecstatic empowerment that come with having a book published.
Now, bear in mind that I didn’t know how I would do this. I just knew that I would do it. Most established poets will tell you that you must have had at least the majority of the poems in your book published in well-known magazines before you have any hope of getting them published in book form.
I refused to believe that. I simply believed that my book would be published and on the shelves of Barnes & Noble within a year.
Two weeks after I started my visualization, I received an email from the editor of a well-known press saying that he was considering the manuscript I had submitted to him two months before and had totally forgotten about! I was floored.
So, I printed out the painting that I wanted for my book cover and wrote the title on the front. I wrote my list of acknowledgments, and I wrote his acceptance email to me and posted it above my bed. I continuously visualized what I would do when I received the good news: going to class and uncorking a bottle of champagne; calling my parents. I designed invitations to the celebration I would have when I received the good news. I told a few of my students that I had published a book.
Soon enough, I got a phone call from an unfamiliar area code. It was the editor of the press saying that he’d like to publish my book of poems and would send me a contract and further information ASAP. This stuff works!!!!
– Maria, New York, USA
If you’re like a cat on a hot tin roof, wanting to meddle in how your desire will come about, understand this: if you take even one step toward the Universe’s job of how, you cancel your creation. Why? Because your actions are saying you don’t have what you want, and you will then continue to attract not having what you want.
Maria didn’t know how her dream of becoming a published poet would come about, but she was wise enough to take very specific actions as if it had already happened. Those are the kinds of actions that speed up manifestation!
HOPE
I was a student of self-help books for many years. I had tried and tried for years to do everything I had learned, but just could not get it to click. Then, a few years ago, I discovered The Secret, and it put together, all in one place, everything I had learned over the years and made that very easy to understand and apply. It was the missing link for me. Ask, Believe, and Receive. That did it! That was the essence, and the teachings made it so simple. Fantastic.
When I discovered The Secret, I was in a horrible marriage and a dead-end job. Everything I tried seemed to fail, and I did not understand why, because I had always thought of myself as a positive guy and a self-help guru.
I started applying The Secret to all aspects of my life and immediately started seeing changes for the better.
The first thing to change was my career. I had been a professional actor in my twenties, but when I had children at thirty, I got a “real job.” I was miserable but thought it had to be that way. After reading The Secret, I resigned from my good-paying “stable” job. No real plans or strategy, just faith and putting in an order to the Universe for a career in my passion and love for acting.
Within three months, I had a small role in a low-budget film. Two more roles came in the six months after that. I began placing bigger orders. I wanted to live a stress-free lifestyle, big money, to have my mortgage and living expenses taken care of.
Then I went on an audition that changed my life. It was for a one-year acting job in Singapore! I didn’t question the Universe, I just said thank you, held on, and have been on a whirlwind ride ever since.
I am no longer in a horrible marriage, and my relationship with my ex is better than it ever has been. My kids and I have a very close relationship, and they have been able to see parts of the world I never imagined being able to show them. I get to play for a living, doing what I love. All of my living expenses are taken care of for me. I live in a beautiful high-rise condo and don’t pay a cent. My salary is more than I have ever made in my life, and I work fewer hours than I have ever worked before. The work doesn’t feel like work, and I get to travel all over the place.
I feel years younger, I am way happier, and I have very little stress. Ever!!
I was one of those people who did not truly believe I could have all of this. That was for the “other” guy. I am a true believer now.
I want to thank Rhonda and thank the Universe for all of the blessings in this life, not just the material but the intangible, emotional, and spiritual blessings.
– Darrell B., Singapore
Darrell received everything he wanted even though he’d had no idea how that would happen, and the same is true for Roland, whose story follows. The other thing they had in common was a really clear idea of what they wanted and an unwavering belief that they would receive it.
WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY!
I would like to start by expressing my sincere gratitude to The Secret Team for bringing The Secret to the world and making it accessible to those of us who otherwise may never have discovered it.
Starting from the age of twelve, I’ve always wanted to live in Los Angeles and be a professional working drummer. Less than 1 percent of musicians actually make a living playing music. I’d realized some moderate success where I lived but had never been in a position to do only that without some kind of day job. I always felt like I belonged in a place like L.A., where the music and the industry flourish, and the sun shines 95 percent of the time.
On some level, I guess I have employed some rules of The Secret without realizing it, as I never seem to worry about money, and it always seems to be there when I need it. However, since watching The Secret, I have become more powerful than ever. I bought the audiobook and began listening to it every day, and still do as much as possible. I’ve been concentrating on learning every aspect of it and employing every bit.
I quit my job three months ago and just felt in my heart it was the right thing to do. I had no idea what I would do for money or where I was going from there. Still, I felt extremely relaxed and had faith that everything would be fine and work itself out. As a result, a temporary job materialized, and I made more than $10,000 in two months, which is more than I had been making. When that ended, I had no idea what to do next or where my next paycheck was coming from. Then I got a call from a cruise line operating out of L.A., saying that they wanted to use our band to develop a new series of shows for their ships. We would be working out of L.A. in their big production studio.
All I had been doing was keeping in good spirits, imagining myself living in L.A., working as a musician, and being prosperous and successful. Everything is falling into place, one thing at a time, in ways I couldn’t have imagined. It’s absolutely amazing how it is working, and it truly feels like it’s only the very beginning.
Just listening to the audiobook makes me so happy and puts me in such a great mood, my eyes literally start to tear. I can’t explain it. Even if all I got out of this was a way to look at life and think more positively, that alone would be an amazing gift. This, however, is so much more; thank you for that.
– Roland C., Nanaimo, Canada
By learning about The Secret, Roland became aware that he had the power within him to attract the career he wanted. We can all have, be, or do anything; there are no limits. We just need to figure out what we really want and ask for it.
Sometimes we may have good reason to wonder how we’re going to get what we want. That was certain
ly true for the person in the next story. Despite the fact that every requirement for a particular dance audition suggested it would be impossible for her to get the job, she decided to test The Secret for herself!
BOLD AUDITION
I must admit that after reading The Secret, I was a bit dubious, but thought I would try it out with small things such as wanting someone to call me or not missing my train. Then, still not totally convinced that these weren’t just coincidence, I thought I would try for something bigger.
My agent phoned to tell me about a casting call for a female dancer to be in a commercial. She wanted to send me for the job, but – and this was a big BUT – they wanted a white blonde. I’m black, so I was wondering why she had bothered, but I said I would go anyway.
Not really thinking about it much (you tend not to because it’s so disappointing when you don’t get a job), I went to the audition. Everyone there was white, and while I was sitting there, I realized I really, really wanted the job. So here was the perfect opportunity to see if The Secret worked! I started to imagine getting it and seeing my face on TV, people calling me to congratulate me, and this job leading to other jobs.
When it was my turn to see the casting director, I felt totally confident. I danced my little heart out and left!
I was thinking about the job all the way home, and when I arrived, I wrote the name of the product on a Post-it and stuck it on my wardrobe. I kept envisioning getting the job and how I would react when I was told the news.
The next day while I was on a different job, I got a call from my agent. “I have some good news – ” She didn’t even have to complete the sentence. I knew why she was calling. I GOT THE JOB!!!! I was ecstatic. Even though I’d told myself the job was mine, it was still so amazing when I was told.
Now I know that I can be more ambitious and really be in control of my future. That’s so exciting.